The largest lottery payout in history will be split just three ways, it has been announced, after the $640million (£400m) Mega Millions draw in the US saw three tickets – from Maryland, Illinois and Kansas – claim $213m (£133m) each.

A sign displays the $640 Mega Millions jackpot (Picture: Getty)

Lottery officials have announced only three tickets matched all six winning numbers – 2, 4, 23, 38, 46, and the Mega Ball 23 – from Friday night’s record-breaking draw.

None of the winning individuals have been made public yet but the tickets have been revealed as having being purchased in the small town of Red Bud, near St Louis, Illinois; Baltimore County in Maryland; and an unnamed town in northeast Kansas.

Each winner looks set to pocket $213m – dwarfing the previous US record of $170m (£106m) per ticket for the two joint winners of a previous mammoth lottery in 2007, when tickets from Georgia and New Jersey split a $390m prize.

This still totals less than the £161m shared by Scottish couple Colin and Chris Weir, who were the sole winners of the huge EuroMillions jackpot last July.

US citizens paid out an estimated $1.5bn (£937m) on tickets for the chance to win this week’s massive jackpot.